Dave and Christi Cason: We're the proud parents of 18 beautiful kids, trying for #19. Sharing the goings on of the family, stuff we like and maybe an opinion or two. Yes, we know what causes it and we've gotten REALLY good at it!
10 Boys and 8 Girls (so far).

Sunday, March 4, 2018

When we last checked in with the intrepid Cason’s, they were
preparing to depart for South Carolina to pick up their young Kaylee Rae after
her graduation from Marine Corps bootcamp.The departure went off surprisingly well and they were on the road with
their 15 passenger Chevy, a rented 15 passenger Ford (with the weird body-style)
and the camera crew consisting of a Belgian journalist, and 2 videographers
from Louisiana.Heading South for the
Muncie area to pick up one of the girlfriends and they immediately got
separated from the second van as the 20 year-old driver was sure he knew the
plan and had relied on the fastest route to the pickup point rather than
Mom/Navigator Christi’s plan and the waiting game began.This foiled the camera crew’s attempt to
capture traveling caravan shots at first because it was hurry up and wait.Soon enough, though, the group was reunited
with Molly on board and booking it down the highway.

Once they arrived at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, they were
checked into a lovely foursome of very nice rooms in the Springhill Suites.The gang all got a pretty good night’s sleep
and had some continental buffet and it was off to the races again!Down and around and down and copious potty
stops later and they had arrived in Hilton Head Island South Carolina at the
Marriott Surfwatch resort.The 2 villas
there were AWESOME!The 3 bedroom units
had very nicely appointed rooms each one rated to sleep 12.The next morning the family woke and somehow
hustled everyone out the door and into the vans and they were on the road once
again, this time traversing the 35 or so miles to MCRD Parris Island.Once through the gate they found the parking
area, but no signage pointing to where they were supposed to meet their Marine.They eventually found the venue albeit just a
few minutes after the official dismissal for family day.

Needless to say, the reunion was emotional.Tears were shed, hugs were given, long and
lingering and more tears were then shed.Kaylee showed her family the barracks in which she lived and a little
bit around the base.Mostly they spent
the hours enjoying each other’s company, part of the time at a lovely picnic
area by the waterside right next to the NCIS office.When the time came to return her to her
platoon, more tears and hugs, but some relief because they would be right back
the next day to see her graduate and take her home.The graduation was incredible.The ceremony, the dress blues, of which dad
was clearly jealous, and the incredible release of emotion in that second they
were dismissed….Awesome!

Fast forward to that evening, the family is now getting
closer to their next stop in this trip, the CABIN!As of this point, Kaylee has no idea that she
is not going straight home, still 6-8 hours driving away, nor that waiting for
her at the unknown cabin is her sister, Jessica whom she was told could not
come.In cahoots with the camera crew,
Jess is waiting for us in the cabin.Kaylee was blindfolded the last few miles before arrival and walked into
the cabin by her girlfriend Cierra.When
the blindfold came off, Kaylee was understandably impressed and happy with the
location, but even more priceless was her reaction a minute later when Jessica
revealed herself.The whole thing was
captured for posterity by the crew and the numerous cellphones present.

Mom, Dad and kids at the cabin

What followed was two fun-filled days relaxing and enjoying
the luxury cabin with it’s hot tub and game room and spectacular views.With a giant spaghetti dinner, Kaylee’s
favorite, to fill the bellies on the last night of the stay.Topped off by an epic throw-down of flipping
and tumbling skills by one of the camera guys, Julian and one of the young men
who now live with the Casons, Anthony.It
was like a romper room showdown!Later
that evening, the camera crew bid the Casons adieu and headed off to their
next gig.

Christi, Trevor and the crew in the cabin game-room

All in all, the trip was a very memorable way to celebrate
Kaylee’s accomplishment and bring her home to her loving family.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Our Cookie Rae has done it!
She is a Marine! Now this Momma is gonna go and see her graduate! Our Cookie Rae has done it! She is a Marine! Now this Momma is gonna go
and see her graduate! Can’t wait to hold
her in my arms again! All we have to do
now is pack up the 15 passenger, rent another 15 passenger because we have all
the kids, the girlfriends, boyfriends,
everyone but the SUPER
FRIENDS, rent a car for my son, who’s leaving later and pack
up a bunch of clothes and I’m freaking out!

We have a film crew showing up today and then they’re
filming our morning madness tomorrow.
Getting up at the booty-crack of dawn because there is no way I’m gonna
let them film my “get up at normal time” face, sending the kids off to school,
cleaning and packing and packing and cleaning.
Getting everything together, then on the road, pick up our extra
passengers. So much to do, not sure even
where to start! I usually can get this
together but I’m an emotional wreck! Can’t
wait to see my girl and I know I’m gonna cry like a big old baby, already am at
every little thing! AAAAGH!

Somewhere in the middle of all that, gotta drop Kaylee’s
truck, the Trout, at the body shop to get a little dent fixed and haircuts and
laundry and more filming and Dave needs some new jeans and there really isn’t
enough time to do this and I just know we’re gonna forget something! I’m so excited to see her and I’m going nuts
wondering if I thought of everything and I should be packing but I’m writing a
silly blog post. At least I’m not on
Facebook but who am I kidding I’m gonna get on Facebook and post too because I’m
doing everything but getting busy packing because, did I mention that I need to
pack? I’d have the kids help but after
they “help” I’ll have to spend too much time fixing it all. Of course they’re helping as much as they can
but right now they’re sitting around wondering why mom is busy typing blog
posts when she should be packing!!

At least the trip will be good. We get to see the Carolinas and beautiful
Hilton head and the place my baby girl and her dad AND her grandfather earned
their eagle, globe and anchors. Then 2 more
days with the whole gang in my dream cabin and I vow that I WILL have coffee while watching the
sunrise over the smoky mountains. It’s
on my bucket list!

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

In just about 2 hours, our Kaylee will begin what is known as the Crucible. This is the Marine Corps bootcamp final test of the skills that they have learned these last 12 weeks. This will be a 54 hour test of fire that will include some 48 miles of marching with about 45 lbs of gear and numerous tasks and assault courses where they use their skills and strength to overcome obstacles and solve problems using teamwork and the military tactics they have learned. When I was there, we had lots of different things we had to do, but no crucible. Naturally Christi and I are as nervous for her as we are proud of her. By the time she finishes the Crucible sometime on Saturday, we will be less than a week from seeing our baby girl. While she will then be a Marine, she will always be my Cookie Rae! If you are of the praying mind, please include a prayer for Kaylee and all her Parris Island sisters in platoon 4004. Also in this crucible will be the male recruits and the other female platoons of Golf and November companies. Pray for them all and pray for the parents who are nervously awaiting word of their kids success in the Crucible.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

As many know, our daughter Kaylee is now less than 2 weeks
away from completing bootcamp and graduating a United States Marine. Of course she wants to see us all at the
graduation, but she has no idea that we are bringing EVERYBODY!All 18 kids, 2 grand-kids, one son-in-law, the 3 young men we've taken in who have basically become family and 3
significant others.We will be renting a second 15 passenger van and hauling a trailer just
so that the whole gang can be there.We
have a great trip planned that will be like the ones we used to take, cross-country.Two days down, staying in 3 great villas in
Hilton Head, going to family day and the graduation from there and afterwards,
heading north to Gatlinburg to spend 2 nights in a wonderful cabin that can
sleep the whole gang!Not only treating
the family to a good time, but crossing off one of Christi’s bucket list items
of staying in a cabin in the Smoky mountains.It will be totally complete when she gets to see the sunrise while
having the morning coffee.

Top that off with a big spaghetti dinner at the cabin
(Kaylee’s favorite) and we will have a trip for the books for sure!

Unbeknownst to Kaylee, the whole thing will be filmed for
the French TV channel M6 and their show “66 minutes”. They will be with the family for the whole
trip and will capture the whole thing.
It will be part of a special they are doing on large American families.

I can’t give my kids a lot of fancy experiences, but they
can always look back to those times when they were on TV and smile. We always have a good time with the film crews and
the kids have a lot of fun trying to out-do each other’s funny.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

I used to tell the kids that the old adage about how
weathermen were never right was not true.
Apparently, that was only true in southern California, where the weather is sun, hot sun and more sun with a slight chance of partly cloudy with a very brief
downpour, which will wash the houses down the Malibu hills since the wildfires
burned all the dry vegetation since all they had was sun, sun and sun.

Not the case here in Indiana. We have had a lovely winter, guessing whether
it was going to be in the 50s or start snowing.
The predictions are always 1-3” until it gets here and it’s 5
inches.

Case in point: This was supposed to be 1-2"...more like 5

Once you’ve thoroughly enjoyed the
pretty white snow, they wet it all down with some freezing rain so that you get
to slide around a bit when you drive. That
for me is the best part. Ask my wife, I
drift the van on purpose when the road is icy!

Those who know me, know that I used to swear I’d never move
to somewhere that has snow more than occasionally, but I really am getting used
to it. And frankly, I don’t miss the 105
degree, no rain, every tree is a desert tree life in southern California.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

Here is a video from an interview/splash reel we did for Figure 8 productions. It has some new footage plus some from our old videos, but it is a pretty cool piece and was loads of fun! Thanks to Wayne Mahon for putting this together and putting up with us and our terrible Skype connections!

As some of you know, our Kaylee is currently in bootcamp in Parris Island, SC. She should just be finishing her swim qualifications this week and moving on to the next phase. We are so very proud of her. We have been missing her terribly, as have all our kids, but thanks to some folks who were on Parris Island to see their Marine graduate, we finally got to see her!

Apparently they "pay it forward" by posting these photos on facebook support group pages for parents of recruits to stare at looking for their people. I admit I stared at them too. Having been there and knowing what she is going through didn't stop me from searching for her like a complete noob dad. Lucky I did because I found her! It gives me more comfort than I thought it would.

We are anxiously looking forward to seeing her graduate in February. She did Thanksgiving and will probably have Christmas at the rifle range, not to mention her birthday in January. We miss her through it all, but will be so proud when she marches her way through the graduation ceremony and we can take her home for her first leave!

After that it is on to probably MCT and then her MOS school. I am doubly proud because her MOS, barring unforseen circumstances will be Aviation mechanics which is exactly what her grandpa was when he was in the Corps. He would be so proud. Whatever her MOS, we know she will be great!